The Roman Invaders
by Mr. Joystick
Summary: After defeating the menacing dragon known as the, "Red Death," Hiccup's lifestyle has a drastic turn around over the next few years. He begins to enjoy life on Berk as he did as a child without expectations. He can explore life with his new found confidence, friends, and maybe even love interest. But it all seems short lived when a troubling sight is spotted on the horizon.
1. Prologue

**I've never written fan-fiction before, so please bear with me as I try my hand at it. This will eventually be a full story covering the scenario of vikings versus the Roman Empire. Any help or suggestions or facts of the time period would be huge! Pretty please. :s**

**Prologue of more to come.**

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I just didn't know what to say. After soaring through the winds to scout more of our land, staring into the horizon where the Island of Berk and the skyline met, standing there with Toothless, it all felt surreal. They had finally accepted me and my own, unique talents; they being my friends and family. With the help Toothless, and the other dragons, we were able to defeat the giant tyrant known as the "Green Death". Even the worst of enemies can unite to bring down a common foe and become unlikely allies. Oh, but now I'm blathering on about something that happened over two months ago.

My name is Hiccup, and I'm the not so obvious son of the village chieftain, Stoick the Vast. I say unlikely because compared to my father and the other vikings, I'm a fairly small person. No one would expect a scrawny tooth pick like me to be the successor of a village of vikings. Though, I wasn't going to be the next chieftain until I had proven my worth recently. And it wasn't the sole fact that I almost died battling that gigantic dragon. I've contributed other things to the village as of late. Those, "things," would be the numerous gadgets and gizmos that I had been working on to help better the life on Berk by making menial tasks easier. To name one, I'd created a large net and rod which operates on one of our longboats to make lifting up a load of fish a breeze. The new fishing system allows us to catch almost three times the amount of fish we could get at before because we can exert the same amount of energy as normal but gain greater upward force in lifting. And that was all thanks to a few simple machines working in succession.

Aside from the fact my inventions have been getting noticed, I've gotten a lot more popular too. Though I'm still treated as the small fry of the village, mostly because I am, but it's nice to be noticed and not be viewed as totally useless anymore. I think it's kind of ironic that I've turned into the pride of Berk nowadays. That's somewhat more pressure than I can handle, being looked at as a miracle child.

If there's one thing that I've learned for certain, no one can truly know what the future holds. I sure as heck didn't. I had accepted the fate of being the outcast of the village, though I kept trying to help out. I had no idea I would inadvertently halt the war between most vikings and the dragons. And I definitely had no idea that my best friend would be the feared Night Fury, the dragon that kept even the bravest of vikings on guard and nervous during raids. I honestly can't wait to see what's in store for us in the coming years. Whatever it is, it has to be better than the old days! Or at least that's what I thought...

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**Oh, and also, August 7th, 2012 (Which is today when I'm updating this), the premiere for the TV show of the movie: "Dragons: Riders of Berk" will air on TV on Cartoon Network sometime in the afternoon. If you live in Central United States, that time would be 6:30 PM.**


	2. Chapter 1 The Typical Days

TWO YEARS LATER

**HICCUP**

"Come on guys, we have to get these notes written into the last draft of the training book."

I hastily flipped through the sheets of paper that Fishlegs, the twins, Astrid, Snotlout, and myself, Hiccup, had accumulated on a mead hall table. The time of day being close to midnight, the only source of notable warmth and light was coming from the torches that litter the walls.

Tuffnut, the male twin, leaned forward on the table and propped up his head with his arm. He then glanced at me in a slightly annoyed manner. "Can't you guys do the rest by yourself? I mean, like, I'm not that great at writing books, so, yeah. And besides, it's so late now! I'm too _tired _to get anything done!"

Ruffnut straightened herself on the seat next to him, "Stop making excuses because you're too lazy to even write."

"Hey! I'm not lazy! I worked more than you have our whole lives," came a disgruntled Tuffnut.

I glanced up from the pages of notes with my mouth hanging open slightly to give the face of, "Oh here we go." I took this time to glance at the others who were watching the squabble with basically the same faces.

"That's not true! And I even bathe more than you do. Seriously, have you ever even taken a bath?" Ruffnut fidgeted to get repositioned farther away from him as she spoke.

"There you go again with the bathing stuff. I don't need this! I'm going home before I murder her." Tuffnut rose with a sudden jolt. In a huff, he was out the double doors of the mead hall before I could even think of something that would persuade him to stay and help. More shenanigans from the Thorsten Twins it seems.

Ruffnut stormed after him, "As if you could! You've not managed to beat me once when it comes to sparring." I rose a finger and stretched out my arm yelling, " Hey, wait!" in hoping they'd come back.

I sighed, "Well, there goes another one." My announcement had no response. I looked around at the remaining others. Astrid, who was sitting next at my side, was glancing at the doors the two had rushed out of before meeting my gaze. It didn't last too long though, her eyes had startled me back to reality before I had even gotten lost. Looking down in a sudden jerk, I could feel my cheeks begin to warm.

"Well, I guess we should get to work before we lose anymore manpower," Came my hushed words.

Snotlout chimed in, "What?" His face seemed a mixture of annoyance and confusion now that he had my attention. He was sitting at the far end of the table, closest to Fishlegs. My sudden bashfulness didn't last too long after hearing him speak. "I said.. we should probably get to work."

Snotlout's face refashioned into a look of being dumbfounded. "Uh.. yeah, right. Work." He scratched the back of his head while staring at the table. "You know, I've actually got a.. thing, I need to do! Fishlegs knows what I'm talking about, right, buddy?"

Fishlegs' only response was an odd look and a quick, "Huh?" Before he could finish going through things that could possibly need doing besides this, Snoutlout had risen, grabbed his arm, and began tugging at him. He would've tried pulling him out of the seat, but Fishlegs is twice the size of Snotlout. Regardless, Fishlegs rose and Snotlout began pulling on him towards the door way.

"Hey wait..! Where are you taking me?" Fishlegs had been abducted from our group by someone with a disgust for books.

And with that, Astrid and I we're now, alone. For all intents and purposes, I could already feel the awkwardness level rising. I glanced at her, who was now staring at the still scattered pages on the table.

"Well, it looks like it's just the two of us now." Her voice, to me, was cleansing after my frustration with most of the group leaving had settled in.

Taking a moment to focus somewhere in the vicinity of her face, I placed my hands at my sides and began, "Yeah, and it'll take a lot longer to get this done if it's just the two of us."

She took advantage of my shifting and grabbed the hand closest to her. Astrid then looked at me and smiled, "I don't mind."

I had the strangest feeling we weren't going to get anything done at this rate.


	3. Chapter 2 Fleeting Feelings

**I'll be taking it somewhat slow with this story so as to explore the details of the world and the lives of the characters more freely. I do appreciate any criticism and comments, though so long as the comments aren't mindless blithering. :s.**

**It sort of feels that I'm leaving bits out and that this is incomplete and shoddy, and I also really feel this way about most things I write, so if you feel there was an area I should have, or at least could have added upon, do tell!**

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**ASTRID**

It's been awhile since I was last alone with Hiccup like this. He'd always be busy tending to Toothless or doing something Gobber or Stoick had asked him to work on. Whether it was being tasked with grueling work in the blacksmith, or trying to explain the delicate tendencies of dragon's to a pack of thick skull-ed vikings, Hiccup always had a full plate. But tonight, everyone else working on the final book has gone home. Which, I really don't mind. It's been so long since I've talked privately with him, and he's changed so much over the past few years it's unbelievable. About a month after the incident with the giant dragon, he'd completely recovered from his injuries and was capable of walking on his prosthetic like he'd never even lost his leg. Of course, he'd made some modifications to that prosthetic, "so it was easier for him to adjust to the feeling," he told me.

"So, uh, Astrid!" Hiccup had a nervous tinge in his voice. I tightened my grip on his hand slightly. "There's.. something.. I need to talk to you about."

"Well, what is it Hiccup?" I looked at him with anticipation. He fidgeted with himself for a moment before continuing.

"It's.. have you.. do you," He fumbled over these for some time before I told him to, "Spit it out, will ya?"

"Do you.. want to go flying with our dragon's sometime?" He'd finally managed to get the words out of his mouth. He was definitely nervous, and I don't think I'd ever heard him.

"Uh, yeah, sure Hiccup." His face was a painting of ecstatic emotions as I said these words.

"You know I mean, uh.. just the two of us.. right?" He began looking at me with a raised eyebrow. It was always amusing when he did that.

"Well, yeah, that's what I thought you meant." I continued to look him in the eyes as I said this, or at least I was trying to. He been avoiding direct eye contact for most of our conversations.

"Ah, yeah, right. If it was the entire group, it would be a normal thing. So, yeah, it would've been weird to ask to ask about something we _always_ do." He made a couple small, awkward chuckles. It seems being straightforward was most definitely not his strong suit.

"Yeah, it'll be the same. Except this time it'll be just us and our dragons. Heh." His voice began to waver at the final words. Hiccup is definitely being bolder, considering he's asking me to go on a trip with him, alone with our dragons. But still, the jitters in his voice are starting to agitate me. It's like he's scared of me for gods sakes!

I took my left hand off of his and placed it on his cheek. This got him to straighten his back and look me in the eye, and this time he didn't avert his gaze after a few seconds. "I don't want it to be the same," and with that, I leaned forward and placed a kiss on lips. I saw his face reeled back in slight delight and surprise as I returned to my air-space. It wasn't anything more than a peck, but he seemed to enjoy it, his spirits lifting.

We sat there for awhile, the atmosphere eventually turning into a sense of awkwardness again. This was our cue to begin working on the book again, trying to assemble a working, readable text, as a means to stop embarrassment. Even though I do want Hiccup to be a bit more blunt, I think saying, "I don't want it to be the same," was taking it a bit far a bit fast. It took me a total of ten minutes to realize those were serious words if he had understood them. Which, it's Hiccup, of course he'd get the meaning. Though, we _are_ at that age. The traditional age of marriage was seventeen, and we're both seventeen now. Our parents will eventually try and pair us off with someone. It was only natural I'd say that I guess. If I have to be stuck with someone for the rest of my life, it had damned well be with someone that I love.

The crisp air that was only slightly touched by torches fire seemed to be tense. We weren't exactly getting much done having lost most of the group. It probably wouldn't have mattered much anyway. I'm sure Fishlegs would've been the only other to even attempt to help. I sighed in a slightly depressed manner. "It is getting pretty late Hiccup, we should probably head on back to our homes."

Hiccup looked like he was processing what I'd said before agreeing with me, and gathering up the pages and putting them in a single pile. His eyes looked somewhat tired. "I guess we'll work on this some other time then."

Watching him a bit more closely, I had seen that he was rubbing and trying to hide the edge of his stump under the table. The cold weather was probably driving him crazy with aches. "Hiccup, have you been in pain this whole time and you didn't even say anything?" I made sure he was looking at me when I said this.

"Huh, uh, what?" He looked generally confused before glancing down at his battle-scarred leg.

"You've been rubbing for the past three minutes without stop. You should go home right now and get some rest." I stood up at the table and collected the stack of papers. "I'll take care of these."

"Bu-," he had tried to say, but I cut him off. "But nothing, go home Hiccup." At this point he looked like a scolded child. He should know better than to be avoiding taking care of his leg!

While keeping the papers safe, I made sure to escorthis home on the hill. At least this way I'd know he wasn't going to stay out and work on saddles for the dragons or whatever else he could possibly think of at this time of night. It was a long, quiet journey up to his home. The darkness was well settled over the island and there weren't many bugs calling into the night air. The stars were numerous, but they offered very little lighting for walking around in the night effectively. The moon wasn't even out tonight.

After arriving at his doorstep, I gave him a quick, '"night," and waved my hand as he walked up the rest of the stone steps. He looked back at me with a smile. He replied, "Good night, Astrid." and with that, he disappeared into his house. I was standing there, the papers still under my arm, smiling like an idiot. Why had that made me so happy to hear him say that back? This is silly, I don't swoon over boys whenever they talk to me. Especially not over Hiccup! "But.." she'd said aloud, "I like that he can make me feel this way."

I had to shake myself out of a self-induced stupor. I didn't know how long I'd been standing there, but if someone had been watching me, it would've been awkward. I started thinking about goingg home, but, there's a chance my mother's going to be angry for not feeding Stormfly, my Nadder, before now. Dragon's become sort of testy when they go without food for awhile. But, oh man, am I looking forward to another family fight! Yeah, right.


End file.
